As human beings we have always existed and operated in small tribes or communities. From the early hunter gatherer days, we found ourselves working in packs, small groups to make life more enjoyable and easier. In many ways we haven’t changed all that much. Both in the real world and even in light of this new digital age we are all a part of. Many people still enjoy being part of a sports club, a band, a book club, and in the digital space more and more people are part of groups online, what’s app groups, linked in groups and so on. You know the drill. Largely speaking, these exist for the same positive reasons that they did thousands of years ago. They are no different and reinforce the early principles that have been embedded in our evolution over time.
If you now imagine looking at a map of a continent (Europe for example) where in the last few centuries, as we have become more sophisticated as humans, we have seen many collaborations and many differences & divides between countries which have all resulted in various outcomes both good and bad. We seem to be able to operate in groups less than 50 people relatively effectively, but when the number grows, it gets exponentially more complex. Based on this logic, I believe that societies truly depend on the leader which they have in place, and partially the system by which they got there to ensure that countries are able to work well together and indeed flourish. Although there have been many positive outcomes of countries working together (free movement, trade, a united currency) there is no doubt when the numbers of individuals increase, people are more territorial, personal agendas and ego’s come in to play and cultural differences make collaboration even harder. Of course, different languages do make things harder, but so many times people get caught up focusing on the differences on colour, gender, age, background as opposed to focusing on what we actually have in common…
I ask you now to imagine yourself one step further away, perhaps on a satellite in space looking down on earth. Where you can’t even see human’s but only the vast oceans and land masses which constitute the planet. You know however, that humans are there. There are three things that hit me when I did this exercise myself: One is that we are so insignificant in the scheme of the planet, we must always remember that – nature is bigger than all of us and infinitely more important. Secondly, the world when you look from this perspective isn’t actually that big (knowing there are many other planets and stars beyond our own) therefore we shouldn’t find it so hard to work together and collaborate for the good of everyone. Thirdly and most importantly, what became apparent is that WE ARE ALL THE SAME when you observe from such a high altitude. Like a group of ants carrying leaves around and working together to build their new home together, why can’t human’s work out how to do the same. We tell ourselves we are the most sophisticated and impressive species on Mother Earth…I wonder if we are so impressive, why we can’t simplify things down and work better together to ensure the future of this incredible place we all call home.